Ladder type treestands are well known in the sport of hunting. Typically, such treestands comprise a ladder which carries a support platform at one end. The ladder is usually made in various sections that are connected together to form the complete ladder but which are otherwise broken down to allow the ladder to be carried on the hunter's back. In any event, when the ladder is assembled and erected, the support platform is located at the top of the ladder and abuts against the tree. The ladder extends upwardly from the ground to the platform to allow the hunter to climb up to the platform. Various rods and support straps can extend between the ladder and the tree to help brace and support the structure.
Prior treestands of this type are difficult to transport into or out of the hunting area. While stands made from separable sections can be carried in on the hunter's back, this can be difficult and tiring to do, especially over long distances. Another problem is transporting game taken by the hunter out of the hunting area. Since these treestands are often used in hunting relatively large animals, such as deer, it can be very difficult to remove such large animals. It is impractical or impossible to carry this type of game out.
Separate wheeled carts have been provided for helping remove game. Such carts are often collapsible, have a set of wheels which allow them to be pulled over the ground, and provide a support platform on which the game may be deposited. The carts are provided with handles to allow the hunter to pull the cart in a rickshaw fashion out of the hunting area after the game is loaded onto the cart. The carts are also used to help transport hunting gear and other equipment as well.
One manufacturer of a collapsible ladder treestand also sells an accessory comprising two ladder wheels that may be attached to one of the ladder sections of the treestand. Thus, when the treestand is broken down, the wheeled ladder section can be used as a wheeled cart in much the same way as the carts previously discussed. In other words, the wheeled section is simply manually pulled by the hunter who holds onto the side rails of the ladder section with the game being deposited on the ladder section.
The prior methods of transporting game, while useful to some degree, have their disadvantages. For one thing, using a separate wheeled cart requires the hunter to purchase another piece of equipment, namely the cart, that is itself bulky, expensive and hard to store. While the above noted accessory wheels for the treestand avoids this disadvantage as it uses one of the ladder sections as the cart, it nonetheless has some disadvantages of its own. For example, the wheels appear to be permanently mounted to the ladder section and remain on the ladder even when the ladder is erected and in use, thus obstructing the hunter's path up and down the ladder. In addition, the wheels are designed for only a particular brand of ladder treestand requiring a unique and relatively permanent attachment method. The wheels do not fit other ladder type treestands without significant modification to the ladders, e.g. drilling mounting holes and the like in the ladders.
Finally, and most importantly, both the wheeled carts and the wheeled treestands previously known are suited only for manual use, i.e. they both need to be manually pulled in and out of the hunting area by the hunter. If weather conditions are adverse, i.e. the ground is muddy or somewhat snowy, this can be most difficult or even impossible to do. Even when weather conditions for the use of these products are ideal, it is still quite tiring for the hunter to have to pull these devices any appreciable distance. Thus, an easier and more convenient way of transporting items, such as the treestand itself and/or game, into and out of the hunting area is needed.
Another problem with prior treestands is the need to provide a gun rest and/or guard rail at the top of the stand adjacent the hunting platform. Separate gun rests have been provided for this location, but they have comprised additional specialized pieces which have only a single purpose, namely as only the gun rest. A simpler and less complex design is desirable for providing a gun rest.